No, it's not going to be OK to use drones for hunting in Colorado

Colorado has taken a preemptive strike against the possible use of drones for hunting wildlife. (AP file photo)

In the futuristic fight to ban the use of drones for scouting and hunting wildlife in Colorado, it's difficult to discern where satire ends and reality begins.

For now, at least, it appears Colorado sportsmen no longer need to fear distraction by all the buzzing and whining in the air. And they won't have to worry about any actual drones, either.

Colorado's Parks and Wildlife Commission has unanimously approved a measure prohibiting the use of unmanned aircraft, or drones, as an aid in scouting, hunting and taking of wildlife, pre-emptively putting to rest an issue that many perceive as a looming threat to the ethics of “fair chase” hunting.

The state already bans the use of manned aircraft to scout game within 48 hours of hunting. Although there have been no reported incidents of hunters making use of drone technology to locate and hunt game animals in Colorado, the rapid development of drone technology for everything from wildlife management to doorstep package delivery had sportsmen and state officials on high alert in anticipation of such use.

“Who would have thought there might be any support for the use of drones in scouting and hunting purposes?” said Paul Navarre, an avid big game hunter from Fort Collins. “The phrase 'build it and they will come' surely is a possibility in this age of high tech. And we surely are a land of inventors, private and corporate. We are also in a land where the current generation has become accustomed to high tech devices to make their lives easier at home or in the field.”

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While the vast majority of Colorado sportsmen chiming in on the topic fall in step with Navarre and the PWC, at least one organization has deemed the measure presumptuous, relying upon satire and theater of the absurd to make its point.

Calling itself the National Association of Drone Sportsmen, or NADS, the group hastily organized by conservative political and media strategist Steve Gill of Nashville, Tenn., has described the measure as “regulatory overreach in an attempt to demean, malign and demonize hunters (a.k.a. gun owners) for something they are not even doing.”

Using humor to illustrate his message, Gill flew to Colorado late last week to address the commission while a cohort stood behind him in a rented deer costume holding a sign reading: “Drone scoping? I'm game!”

“I believe you ought to hunt fairly,” said Gill, a nonhunter claiming it would be just as easy to shoot the deer covering his backyard with a 9mm handgun. “But we've got enough regulation in business and in life to not spend our time trying to regulate things people aren't actually doing yet.”

With the tongue-in-cheek slogan, “If you're going to hunt drones, you're going to need NADS,” Gill's organization was created in response to the initiative by Deer Trail to sell licenses to shoot down drones. While voting on the proposed Deer Trail ordinance has been delayed, NADS got a second wind from the recent announcement by People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, that they are selling drones known as ” Air Angels” to be used to monitor hunter activity in the field.

Billed by PETA as “the new hobby for animal protectionists,” the $325 drones can send video and photos straight to the user's phone in order to collect footage of “forbidden hunting tricks.”

“PETA's drones will help protect wildlife by letting hunters know that someone may be watching — and recording — them, so they should think twice before illegally killing or maiming any living being,” PETA president Ingrid E. Newkirk said in a news release. “Wildlife watchers outnumber wildlife killers 5-to-1 — and if even a fraction of these kind people use hobby drones, they'll make a huge difference by exposing hunters' dirty secrets.”

As in most states, Colorado law considers such intrusive surveillance illegal hunter harassment. And contrary to the PETA spin, surveys show that the vast majority of Americans support hunting as a tool for wildlife management if animals are not killed solely for trophy status, if the meat is consumed and if fair chase ethics are applied.

But before hunters start applying those ethics to “Air Angels,” they should know that the Federal Aviation Administration considers shooting them down a crime as well.

“I have people on my fence lines all the time waving flags and blowing sirens and everything else,” commissioner Robert Bray, owner of Bray Ranches and guided hunting service in Redvale, said before moving to approve the drone hunting measure. “I can imagine someone might be playing with an airplane out there too. I'm just wondering, does this (provision) go deep enough on that side of the issue?”

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